Six Picks: Paul Simon, new AMC Civil War series, and more

Collection of Paul Simon lyrics in print, website that documents New Yorkers and what they're reading, new AMC Civil War series, and more.

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October 25, 2011

Paul the Poet

If any American songwriter deserves a deluxe print edition of his lyrics, it's Paul Simon. From his very first songs with Simon & Garfunkel, it was clear that he was far more than just a folk singer: "I held her close, but she faded in the night/ Like a poem I meant to write." Paul Simon: Lyrics 1964-2011 contains every Simon verse ever recorded, from the 1964 album "Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m." (1964) to his latest, "So Beautiful or So What" (2011).

Get Lost in Space

The Fabric of the Cosmos, a new, four-hour PBS "NOVA" series with noted physicist and host Brian Greene, takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of physics to understand how scientists are assembling the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. Get a glimpse of what lies beneath the surface of our everyday lives – an experience we'd hardly recognize. The four episodes cover four different aspects of time, space, and dimension, airing Nov. 2, 9, 16, and 23.

Pop music can often be as fleeting and disposable as a bag of chips. Unfortunately for Peter Gabriel, his 1980s MTV hit "Sledgehammer" branded a gifted musician as a lightweight novelty artist. New Blood should blow such notions to kingdom come. Recorded with a 46-piece orchestra, Gabriel and his longtime collaborator John Metcalfe have refashioned his marvelous 35-year catalog into a Wagnerian tour de force. Pizzicato strings, woodwinds, and pounding kettle drums replace the synthesizers and guitars of the original recordings and propel Gabriel's undiminished voice into high-def glory.

Sing Day-o

Always compelled by the world around him, Harry Belafonte is inextricably linked with Calypso and folk music, Hollywood, and social justice movements of the past 60 years. Sing Your Song, the companion CD to the HBO documentary of the same name, offers his most famous tunes chronologically strung together. The disc is beautifully mastered to display the full resonance of his tender singing and joyful music, which smooth the hardships conveyed by the lyrics.

We see you reading

Watch out if you're not proud of that book you're reading. On the website CoverSpy, staffers from Slice Magazine post books they see others reading around New York, along with a description of the reader. The "Harry Potter" series is a popular post. On Sept. 30 a male "under 12" was reading the first book looking "captivated."

Civil War Epic

Hell on Wheels, from AMC, is the story of a Confederate soldier in the post-Civil War era as he struggles to find revenge for the wartime death of his wife. It is also the tale of America's Reconstruction as the country tries to rebuild after the bloodiest war on its soil. Raw and violent, this show aims to bring 1860s America as up close and personal as the 1960s are in AMC's "Mad Men." Starts Nov. 6.

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